Yes. I did. I got the same letters everyone else has been getting. The first one telling me they were jacking the rate to 16.99%. Then I got the one in November telling me they were jacking it to 20.99%. Within minutes of getting that letter I made a payment in full of the entire outstanding balance on the card.

About a week or so ago I got my statement and it had the $50 annual fee (I have the silver card) on it. I decided that I would call and ask for the fee to be waived for the year. I got an agent in India who I could barely understand. She seemed nice enough though so I figured I'd try my luck. I explained that I was annoyed about the interest hikes and got a canned response about it being the same all over the world. I just responded that I have cards with a rate some 8% less than theirs so I don't want to hear excuses. Bottom line, I said, was that they needed to waive the fee for the year if they wanted to keep my business. No problem. Agent informed me that I would see a credit on my next statement and that it should post to my account within 48 hours if I review it online.

This morning I went online and checked my balance. I'm baffled. There are two "interest credit" credits on my account. One for around $69 and another for $2. I have no idea how they calculated this because there is no way my last interest payment was $69. Completely baffled. I guess instead of doing a "credit" of the annual fee, which probably would have required some kind of supervisor authorization, she applied an interest credit, which must have been within her control.

Would, of course, be interested to hear other experiences.